This paper incorporates the milk quota system into technical efficiency analysis of dairy farms in England and Wales. Our approach accounts for milk quota trade, allowing an investigation of the relationship between the way in which milk quota market is used by farmers and technical efficiency. In addition, several explanatory variables for inefficiency were used. Results obtained from a Bayesi...

Studies on decision-making processes are generally aimed at identifying farmers' needs and predicting farmers' reactions to technical innovations. In the present paper we study these decision-making processes, with reference to dairy farms, to build a whole-farm computer model (WFM) which simulates farmers' actions. In this study, (i) a multi-tool and multi-step methodology is proposed, which c...

Urban livestock keeping in developing cities have an important role in food security and livelihoods but can also pose a significant threat to the environment and health of urban dwellers. The aim of this study was to identify the different livestock systems in Nairobi, their supply chains, and their management and food safety risks. Seven focus group discussions with livestock production offic...

Dairy cattle mate-allocation is an important problem for the dairy industry. The problem involves the selection and the allocation of sires and dams with the aim of improving the breeding objective. In this paper, a description of the initial design of an advisory intelligent decision support system, currently under-development by the authors for farmers in Australia, is illustrated. The design...

When I request a memory from 2012 to dairy farmers, almost unanimously they respond “drought stress.” According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA, 2013), the spring and summer drought of 2012 will be remembered as one of the “worst agricultural calamities” in the United States (USDA, 2013). The drought of 2012 reduced the national corn grain and silage yields by 16.2 and 16.3%, respecti...

Walkway floors have a significant effect on cattle locomotion and claw health, as well as on animal behaviour and general cattle house hygiene; and affected both animals’ welfare and dairy farmers’ profit. There are several qualities floors should fulfil, which contemporary walkway floors do not completely do. From an animal point of view, the most favourable of present passageway floorings in ...

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mbarara district, south-western Uganda in May 2012 to determine the burden of African animal trypanosomosis (AAT) in the semi-intensive dairy production systems where pyrethroid acaricides are frequently used in the control of tick-borne diseases (TBDs). A total of 295 cattle blood samples were taken and analysed using a single pair of primers previously...

From " Milk – It Does a Body Good " to " Got Milk? " to " 3-A-Day for Dairy, " you've seen the advertisements and commercials aimed at increasing demand for fluid milk and dairy products. Generic advertising of dairy products has been around for many years and has been shown to increase consumer demand and improve the net returns to producers who fund the activities. However, in recent years, s...